diversity

About a month ago, I was “temporarily disabled” – I could not move without severe abdominal pain. I was diagnosed with appendicitis and had to undergo emergency surgery to remove the offending organ because it had enlarged to roughly threefold the average size. During the recovery, I was bedridden and under the constant care of […]

These are exciting times at IBM, following CEO Ginni Rometty’s May 24th announcement about Call for Code. As Laurent Sauveur of the United Nations Human Rights office points out, Call for Code is an excellent opportunity to explore how technology can play a role in addressing the needs of the most vulnerable populations. IBMer Daniel […]

Who better to confirm the accessibility of solutions before they are released to market than people with disabilities? Being visually impaired, I rely considerably on magnification and altered colors to see what’s on my device screens. One day, not long ago, I sat in a room full of developers in a meeting and it was illuminating to […]

I’ve been deaf since contracting spinal meningitis at two years old. I am accustomed to a world without sound. Many call it silence, but from my perspective, I’m here to make as much noise as possible – at work and in my personal life. As a sixth grader, I wrote my first program using BASIC […]

Mobility and independence are powerful devices, especially for someone with a disability. Every year as we celebrate International Day of Persons with Disabilities, I am reminded why I work for IBM – its long history of inclusion, commitment to workforce diversity, and innovations in accessibility. I joined IBM in 2013 for the IBM Accessibility Research team […]

by Dr. Ruoyi Zhou, Director, IBM Accessibility Research, and Lindsay-Rae McIntyre, IBM Chief Diversity Officer Celebrating and reflecting on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, we call upon everyone to build awareness and create real change for people with disabilities. Through workforce policies and new technology innovations, we must ensure that people of all abilities […]

There is a wealth of technical talent available in the population of high-functioning autistic individuals, but it often goes untapped for the want of proper accommodations that could make any workplace – with or without people on the autism spectrum – a better place to work. Currently in the United States, only 14 percent of […]